Excerpt from The Bell System Technical Journal, 1930, Vol. 9: A Journal Devoted to the Scientific and Engineering Aspects of Electrical Communication As has been stated by Mr. Gifford, President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, The ideal and aim today of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and its Associated Companies is a telephone service for the nation, free, so far as humanly possible, from imperfections, errors, or delays, and enabling at all times any one anywhere to pick up a telephone and talk to any one else anywhere else, clearly, quickly and at a reasonable cost. With this aim in view, continuous effort is made further to improve and to extend the service within the nation and also the telephonic con nections to other nations. It is recognized also that changes in business and social conditions bring about repeated changes in the services desired by the people of the nation and in the character and appearance of facilities furnished to them. These facts, in addition to the onward march of the application of science, form an important basis for the continued study by the general staff of the development of all phases of the telephone system. A few figures relative to the size and growth of the Bell System are helpful in an understanding of the more specific telephone prob lems which are discussed below. Such figures are included in the statistical summary appended to this paper and include data regarding telephone messages, numbers of telephones, miles of wire and amount Of telephone plant. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.